A new study published in Spine examines how patient-reported insomnia in patients with chronic disabling occupational musculoskeletal disorders responded to a functional restoration program.
The researchers examined 262 patients with predominant chronic spinal pain and assessed insomnia severity index at the beginning and end of the program. Here are five findings from the report:
1. The patient’s degree of clinical insomnia at admission predicted program completion significantly and average insomnia severity index scores improved significantly.
2. However, a high percentage of patients, around 36 percent, still reported moderate to severe insomnia at discharge.
3. Severe clinical insomnia prevalence decreased 18.4 percent but patients in this group still reported more pain, disability and depressive symptoms. They also demonstrated more opioid, sedative and antidepressant use compared with the other groups of patients.
4. One year after treatment, 56 percent of patients with severe insomnia at discharge retained work. Around 71 percent to 93 percent of the patients with lesser sleep disturbance were still working.
5. Patients with severe clinical insomnia at discharge were more than 10 times less likely to be working than patients without clinical insomnia.
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